Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em.

If You Smoke ...... chances are you're gonna hateGov. Ed's new "Prescription for Pennsylvania" healthcare plan.Gov. Ed wants to boost the state's $1.35-per-pack cigarette tax by an unknown amount, and he wants to slap a tax on the sale of cigars and smokeless products.
Predictably, restaurant and tavern owners aren't too thrilled about the news, telling our Matt Assad today that, "If this passes, mom-and-pop taverns all over the state will go out of business."That's from Louise Stettler, whose family owns Neff's Hotel and tavern in Schnecksville in Lehigh County."Taverns are one of the last places people can go to smoke a cigarette and talk with their friends," she continued. "Take that away, and business is going to suffer."But here's a thought: Over the weekend, we were in New York City, where Mayor Mike imposed a citywide ban on indoor smoking a couple of years back. We vividly recall restaurant and tavern owners issuing the same complaints at the time. And we also recall an initially bumpy transition to a smoke-free existence.Yet, during our weekend sojourn, we found the restaurants, bars and watering holes totally packed. And the club where we rocked the night away was jumping.Assuming Gov. Ed is successful in his bid, one would think the Keystone State would enjoy the same fate as our neighbors to the north.The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

As Is Our Custom ...... we offer the usual smorgasbord of links to today's coverage of Gov. Ed's plan to turn Pennsylvania into Sweden.
We start with a pair of stories from this very newspaper. The first is by your humble 'blogger. The second by our colleague Matt Assad, who, as we mentioned above, talked to saloonkeepers on the prospect of a statewide smoking ban.The Inquirer also offers a trio of stories about the plan. We've linked to the main story. The sidebars are in a box on the Inky's page. We'll let you find your way ... because we trust you.The Patriot-News of Harrisburg looks at Rendell's proposal to cut down on wasteful medical spending, while the Post-Gazette notes that it would take huge changes by the Legislature to implement the plan.The Tribune-Review calls Rendell's plan a major operation -- finally, someone with a medical pun in the headline. And the Scranton Times-Tribune takes a look at its impact on small business.

Things You Also Pay For.Speaking of gobs of cash, the cost of running the state Legislature increased by nearly 9 percent in the most recent fiscal year, and its financial reserves grew to more than $215 million, The Associated Press reports this morning.
The General Assembly spent a mind-numbing $308 million on itself, something called the Legislative Audit Advisory Commission found. The AP got its mitts on the commission's reports for 2004-05
and 2005-06 that were released Tuesday to representatives and senators.Meanwhile, the Legislature's "continuing appropriation," a slush fund of cash made up of money not spent from one year to the next, grew by 34 percent to $215 million in the most recent fiscal year, auditors found.A Fine Whine.Thanks to "Sideways," everyone and their brother now thinks they can tell the difference between a Pinot and a Merlot. But it turns out that newly minted wine snobs might not have
been getting such a good deal under the state Liquor Control Board's highly touted "Chairman's Selection," the Inky reports.Some customers complained that the prices of
a few of those wines are ''not portrayed correctly,'' new LCBChairman P.J. Stapleton said. The "Chairman's Selection" wines are advertised in stores and online by
contrasting the sale price with a ''suggested,'' ''quoted'' or
''regular'' price. The savings typically ranges from 30 percent to 70
percent, the Inky reported. Critics, however, charged that some of the wines are blends that are
produced for sale only in Pennsylvania. They've questioned how the LCB can fairly indicate a savings when the wines did not
exist before being made for Pennsylvania.This is mostly why we drink beer.

Arlen Specter, Terrorist Sympathizer?Not exactly, but a panelist at a Wednesday forum in Pittsburgh said Snarlen's legislation to restore legal rights to suspected terrorists "provide(s) aid and comfort to the enemy."
"It's providing detainees with rights they simply do not have under
our Constitution," Craig Minnick, a Johnstown lawyer and lieutenant
colonel in the Army Reserve, said during a panel discussion at Duquesne
University School of Law.Specter, R-Pa., recently introduced a bill that would revise legislation passed last year that stripped many detainees of their habeas corpus rights. Specter sponsored a similar measure that failed in the last Congress.Minnick, an Iraq war veteran, said Specter's proposal would provide undue legal rights "to
people who have violated the rules of armed conflict, targeted
civilians and cut off the heads of our soldiers," the Tribune-Review reported this morning.A Writ of Habeas Corpus, more astute readers will recall, forces the state to justify why it's holding someone. It's one of the most fundamental legal rights in the world, and traces its origins back to the Magna Carta.But Specter put it way more succinctly than we ever could:"The Constitution is explicit that habeas corpus may not be suspended
except in time of invasion or rebellion, and we do not have either of
those circumstances present," he said.In The Blogosphere:Keystone Politics on the Allentown City Council rejecting a Hazleton-style immigration ordinance; GrassrootsPA on Rep. Ron Buxton's proposal to move our primary to March instead of May; Above Average Jane posts excerpts from the state House journal from last June; Providing us with more information than we may need, Tony Phyrillas says he feels like he's been tied to a whipping post; Thinking the Big Thoughts, Perry Christopher is aghast that the Golden Globe Awards out-performed 24 in the TV ratings this week; A Big Fat Slob says the war-mongers are moving to the left; PSoTD on the welcome news that Prince will bring the funk during this year's Super Bowl halftime show; Suburban Guerrillainforms us that, yes, it is possible to drink too much water; VoicePA links to coverage of yesterday's healthcare drop; Matt Best on how everyone's a Speaker these days; Powerline on The Greatest turning 65 this week; Andrew Sullivan on our Maliki problem; The Swamp on our new Catch 22, and DCist provides us with our Picture of the Day (TM).

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning:If, like us, you were a pop music fan living in New England in the mid-1990s, the chances are pretty good that you caught a set or two by then Rhode Island-based power-poppers
The Velvet Crush.Helmed by the guitarist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck, the band formed in the college town of Champaign-Urbana, Ill., in the late 1980s, and promptly released a slew of independent records that mostly no one ever heard. They later relocated to the Ocean State.But the Crush truly hit its stride in 1994, when it released the Mitch Easter-produced "Teenaged Symphonies to God." The record was a pop masterclass, awash as it was in shimmering guitars and sunshine-y harmonies.This morning, we're listening to the band's 1999 effort, "Free Expression," which is almost as good and suits our mood perfectly.Thursday's Gratuitous Soccer Link:In which we pause to note that, in addition to topping the Premier League this season, Manchester United is also having a terrific run in this years FA Cup competition. The fourth round draw was announced this morning, and we find that the Red Devils will face fellow Premier League club Portsmouth.On paper, it should be a romp. But you can never tell.